Three Farmtrepreneurs

Hi all.

Mark here.

Sorry the bulletin is coming out late this week, but as I warned you last week I wanted to make this a follow up report on our very important business meeting about how to make the farm profitable. After all, farming is, in Troy and Victoria's life plan, a career, a livelihood. And we agreed that in today's agricultural economy, a small farm can only make it by seeking every revenue stream it can possibly find. So we sat down Sunday with a stated purpose of thinking outside the box, taking advantage of existing farm resources in new ways, or creating entirely different products or services. Someplace where we could lead the way.As I promised last week, here are the minutes of our deliberations.I called the meeting to order. "Ok guys, what are our suggestions?"Right off the bat Troy, ever the jokester, replied: "Well, I was thinking we have this incredible ridge of shale out in the pasture. What about artisanal fracking?"Victoria shot it down immediately: "C'mon Troy, please let's take this seriously. You want a successful farm, not a successful poisoned sinkhole. Fracking is environmentally irresponsible, even if you call it 'artisanal'. How about something a little less impactful? For example, maybe sell advertising space on the side of the barn?"It was my turn to object. "Hey, we're supposed to stand for not just small farming, but aesthetically pleasing farming as well. That doesn't seem to jibe with our image. It would probably hurt sales of our existing farm products if people associated us with a huge neon Coca Cola sign on the side of the barn."I continued: "But I agree that we need to look at 'monetizing' what we already have. Not creating new burdens on us, just new revenue sources. And as I was searching on the internet for ideas, one that came to me was putting a pay wall on our Farm Bulletin. You know, how these various websites say 'You have two free articles left this month. Press this button to subscribe and get free unlimited access to our bulletin and bulletin archive.' We're already writing the bulletin, why not get paid something by those who read it?"Well, this idea really appealed to both Troy and Victoria. Why not get paid for something you already do? We took a vote and unanimously adopted the pay wall, pricing subscriptions at what I'm sure you'll agree is a very modest $5 per year. That may seem like chicken feed to you, but with all our subscribers it adds up, so much so that for us it really does mean chicken feed -- if you all sign up we'll have enough to pay our feed bill for the chickens for an entire year. If you see a message asking you to pay for this bulletin after the next three issues come out, do not be surprised. It's technologically feasible and we figure if you really like it, you'll pay.At this, Victoria said, "Along those lines, I was reading in the New York Times Science section that people would be much healthier and have far fewer food allergies if their immune systems worked properly. And the reason that more people have those allergies nowadays is that they live in environments that are too sterile. Exposure to bacteria and pathogens, especially for young children, in the long term makes them healthier. As the article said, it may be good for you to pick your nose -- and eat it." ([New York Times, March 12, 2019, "Your Environment is Cleaner. Your Immune System Has Never Been so Unprepared])(https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/health/immune-system-allergies.html)"So?" I said."Think about it," Victoria replied. "We have a perfect environment here to expose people to pathogens and immune stimulating substances. Ragweed pollen in the gardens. Chick poop in the chicken coop, sheep poop in the barn, etc. I've always hoped to do educational programs here for kids. Maybe what we can educate, unlike other farms, is chil